DuckDuck Whoa?
Since our first day on the worldwide web, The Conservative Alternative has featured search using DuckDuckGo (DDG). We did this primarily because DDG does not track user searches or sell user information to third parties.
As internet privacy concerns have grown so has DuckDuckGo with over ten million daily searches on average. However, in a recent tweet, DDG founder and CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, stated that the company would update its search algorithm to down-rank Russian disinformation sites and they would pause its relationship with the Russian-state-owned search engine Yandex. These actions are similar to those recently taken by Meta-owned companies Instagram, and Facebook. Google has been down-ranking Russian state news agencies since 2017. Because The Conservative Alternative features DuckDuckGo their recent actions are of concern to us.
As I mentioned earlier, DuckDuckGo is known as a “privacy-minded” search engine, that doesn’t track its users or sell data to third parties. The down-ranking of Russian-state-owned sites has no effect on user privacy.
DDG has received both praise and criticism for this down-ranking. The critics have likened it to censorship. On his personal Twitter account, the CEO of DuckDuckGo, Gabriel Weinberg, tweeted, “Like so many others I am sickened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the gigantic humanitarian crisis it continues to create. #StandWithUkraine.” Also, the company provided the technology blog Engadget with the following statement:
“The primary utility of a search engine is to provide access to accurate information. Disinformation sites that deliberately put out false information to intentionally mislead people directly cut against that utility. Current examples are Russian state-sponsored media sites like RT and Sputnik. It's also important to note that down-ranking is different from censorship. We are simply using the fact that these sites are engaging in active disinformation campaigns as a ranking signal that the content they produce is of lower quality, just like there are signals for spammy sites and other lower-quality content. In addition to this approach, for newsworthy topics, we're also continuing to highlight reputable news coverage and reliable “instant answers” at the top of our search results where they are seen and clicked the most. We're also in the process of thinking about other types of interventions.”
Despite those statements, many users of the search engine have responded with outrage. Some have stated they have or will abandon DuckDuckGo for another search site. If the actions of DDG are worrisome to you we recommend you try the Dutch search engine, Startpage.
However, for The Conservative Alternative, the changes at DuckDuckGo hasn’t become a pivot point. The down-ranking of Russian news sites controlled by a dictator engaged in a war against a democratic neighbor is concerning only if it grows to multiple topics or becomes routine and permanent. We’ll continue to use the site but also monitor their future actions.
